I've always heard "You can shoot a 38 special out of a 357 magnum" statements, and have even done it a few hundred times after witnessing others do it safely first. Now there are guns such as the 460 s&w that state you can shoot a 454 or even a 45lc out of it. It's obvious how they would chamber and fire, but I wonder... what keeps the bullet on these shorter rounds from tilting in the unoccupied chamber, and potentially jamming before reaching the barrel? Is it a case of "close enough"? It just seems to me there would be potential for this or that at least acurracy or performance would have to suffer.

bushmeister wrote:I've always heard "You can shoot a 38 special out of a 357 magnum" statements, and have even done it a few hundred times after witnessing others do it safely first. Now there are guns such as the 460 s&w that state you can shoot a 454 or even a 45lc out of it. It's obvious how they would chamber and fire, but I wonder... what keeps the bullet on these shorter rounds from tilting in the unoccupied chamber, and potentially jamming before reaching the barrel? Is it a case of "close enough"? It just seems to me there would be potential for this or that at least acurracy or performance would have to suffer.

Markey,

Using your examples, your assumptions are pretty much correct. Though accuracy can be negatively affected, it's not normally a a large problem, unless small targets, at long ranges, using a machine rest, are being graphed. Normal pistol ranges, shot off-hand, at normal targets, will be very difficult to see any meaningful accuracy creep.

I used 44 Specials, in my 44 Mag, for years and never thought I had any problems..

On the 38/357 and 44/44mag the difference in length is only 1/10 inch so there isn't space for the bullet to tilt before it enters the throat. In any case the diameter difference between the chamber and throat is a matter of a few thousandths of an inch so the bullet isn't going to tilt an appreciable amount. In rifle chambers the distance to the throat from the chamber can effect accuracy at least in theory in that the bullet can yaw just a tiny bit before it is grabbed by the rifling so you often see match chambers that have the bullet touching the lands when fully seated. In pistol calibers we don't usually get worked up over a few hundreths of an inch difference in the 100 yard groups.

My Daddy was wrong when he said: "When a man turns 60 he ought to be able to trade his testicles in on a new set of teeth." Oatmeal and soup don't sound too bad.

Guys shoot .40 S&W out of 10mm and 9mm out of .38 Supers a lot more frequently than they will admit. There is a top shooter who has a .38Super racegun and runs it primarily on 9mm 115 ball.

With Revolvers, the rim keep the primer in the correct location for ignition...in an auto loader, not true, so essentially they are "headspacing" off of the extractor. as long as the "secondary" round is relatively low in power, there is not a great wear concern. However, the shoulder in the chamber may become fouled and result in preventing the correct cartridge from going into battery. That could cause some problems...

The same person who would buy this is the same person who would buy a gold-plated .50 caliber Desert Eagle. Pure novelty.it looks like two colt 1911s taped together...

A short study of ballistics will show that two large subsonic .45 bullets coming out of their barrels so close together will affect eachother in flight so you'll end up with less accuracy than a standard single barrel .45.

Gilbert wrote:The same person who would buy this is the same person who would buy a gold-plated .50 caliber Desert Eagle. Pure novelty.it looks like two colt 1911s taped together...

A short study of ballistics will show that two large subsonic .45 bullets coming out of their barrels so close together will affect eachother in flight so you'll end up with less accuracy than a standard single barrel .45.

That would be in addition to the huge weight and recoil.

this is just a movie prop surely?

He is not asking about the double barreled 1911s. However, a shot study of ballistics will show that the bullets will have insignificant effect on each other. Furthermore, testing has shown no measurable effect either. Not saying it is a good idea, but ballistics is the least of the worries.,.